Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters march in Malmo against Israel's Eurovision participation

MALMO, Sweden (AP) — Not everyone in Malmo was welcoming the Eurovision Song Contest to town.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators protested in the Swedish port city on Thursday against Israel’s participation in the pan-continental pop competition.

Protesters waving green, white, black and red Palestinian flags packed the historic Stortorget square near Malmo’s 16th-century town hall before a planned march through the city for a rally in a park several miles (kilometers) from the Eurovision venue. Police estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 people took part. Among those in the crowd was Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.

Chanting “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” and “Israel is a terror state,” the demonstrators set off smoke flares in the Palestinian colors during a noisy, peaceful rally to criticize Israel and call for a cease-fire. There was a large police presence, with a hovering helicopter, and officers on rooftops with binoculars.

“It’s important to be here,” said Amani Eli-Ali, a Malmo resident of Palestinian heritage. “It’s not OK for Sweden to arrange this Eurovision and have Israel in the contest.”

Protester Saadallah Aoudi, a Swedish citizen with Palestinian roots, said “this is the wrong time” for Israel to take part in the competition.

“It’s about songs, and songs are about love. … They should be here when there is peace," he said.

The Israel-Hamas war, which has killed almost 35,000 Palestinians, has brought a jarring juxtaposition to Eurovision week in Malmo. Music fans in colorful sequined outfits or draped in their national flags mixed in the streets with supporters of the Palestinian cause in keffiyeh scarves.

Palestinian flags fly from windows and balconies along a pedestrianized thoroughfare that has been temporarily renamed “Eurovision street.”

A smaller pro-Israel protest was also held Thursday in a central Malmo square.

Pro-Palestinian groups plan to march again on Saturday, the day of the Eurovision final.

Israel’s government warned its citizens of a “tangible concern” Israelis could be targeted for attack in Malmo during the contest.

Contest organizers, who try to keep Eurovision a non-political event, have rejected calls to bar Israel over the conduct of its war against Hamas.

But they told Israel to change the lyrics of its entry, originally titled “October Rain” in apparent reference to Hamas’ cross-border Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 Israelis and triggered the war. The song was renamed “Hurricane” and Israeli singer Eden Golan was allowed to remain in the contest.

Some audience members attending a dress rehearsal on Wednesday could be heard to boo during Golan’s performance of the power ballad. But on Thursday she won enough viewer votes to come in the top 10 of 16 acts competing in a semi-final and secure a place in Saturday's title competition.

Critics of the decision to let Israel compete point out that Russia was kicked out of Eurovision in 2022 after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and Belarus was ejected a year earlier over its government’s crackdown on dissent.

“We’re supposed to be united by music but we’re not united, because Israel is participating,” said Malmo resident Anders Trolle-Schultz, who attended the protest.

“I think Malmo should have kept Eurovision, but we should have told Israel either ‘Stay away,’ or maybe even say, why don’t we invite a Palestinian music group to participate? That would be fair.”

Historian Dean Vuletic, author of “Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest,” said Eurovision has long been a focus of political controversies. Turkey’s 1974 invasion of Cyprus led to a Greek boycott the following year. Georgia pulled out of Eurovision in 2009, a year after it fought a brief war with Russia, after organizers rejected its proposed song, “We Don’t Wanna Put In” — an obvious reference to Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“Whenever countries compete with each other, things are going to get political,” and Eurovision has always reflected the “political zeitgeist” in Europe, he said.

While the last two years’ competitions have seen an outpouring of support for Ukraine, this year “we see Europe divided over the war in Gaza."

Protesters carry a giant Palestinian flag in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. Several protests are expected against Israel's participation in the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) at the Malmo Arena. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)

Protesters take part in the Stop Israel demonstration in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. Several protests are expected against Israel's participation in the 68th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) at the Malmo Arena. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)

People wave flags during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Protesters hold up a banner with the words in Swedish "No To Genocide" during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Police stand by next to a bridge during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

People carry banners and Palestinian flags during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

People carry posters and Palestinian flags during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

People carry a banner with the words in Swedish "For an independent Palestine" during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

People wave Palestinian flags during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

People wave Palestinian flags during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Protesters hold a banner during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Protesters hold a banner with the words in Swedish "No To Genocide" during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

People wave Palestinian flags during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

A protestor stands on.a flag of Israel during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

Protestors carry a model of the Dome of the Rock during a Stop Israel demonstration, between Stortorget and Mölleplatsen in Malmö, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. There have been calls for Israel to be excluded from the Eurovision Song contest because of its conduct in its war against Hamas. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)

Climate activist Greta Thunberg takes part in a Stop Israel demonstration, between Stortorget and Mölleplatsen in Malmö, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. There have been calls for Israel to be excluded from the Eurovision Song contest because of its conduct in its war against Hamas. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)

Protestors fix a Palestinian and Swedish flag atop of a building during a Stop Israel demonstration, between Stortorget and Mölleplatsen in Malmö, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. There have been calls for Israel to be excluded from the Eurovision Song contest because of its conduct in its war against Hamas. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)

Protestors takes part in the Stop Israel demonstration between Stortorget and Mölleplatsen in Malmö, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. There have been calls for Israel to be excluded from the Eurovision Song contest because of its conduct in its war against Hamas. (Johan Nilsson/TT News Agency via AP)

A protester shouts into a megaphone during a Pro-Palestinian demonstration for excluding Israel from Eurovision ahead of the second semi-final at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo, Sweden, Thursday, May 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

LONDON (AP) — WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange faced a hearing Monday in the High Court in London that could end with him being sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges, or could provide him another chance to appeal his extradition.

The outcome will depend on how much weight judges give to assurances U.S. officials have provided that Assange’s rights won’t be trampled if he goes on trial.

In March, two judges rejected the bulk of Assange's arguments but said he could take his case to the Court of Appeal unless the U.S. guaranteed he would not face the death penalty if extradited and would have the same free speech protections as a U.S. citizen.

The court said that if Assange, who is an Australian citizen, couldn’t rely on the First Amendment then it was arguable his extradition would be incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights, which also provides free speech and media protections.

The U.S. has provided those reassurances, though Assange's legal team and supporters argue they are not good enough to rely on to send him to the U.S. federal court system.

The U.S. said Assange could seek to rely on the rights and protections of the First Amendment but that a decision on that would ultimately be up to a judge. In the past, the U.S. said it would argue at trial that Assange is not entitled to the constitutional protection because he is not a U.S. citizen.

“The U.S. has limited itself to blatant weasel words claiming that Julian can ‘seek to raise’ the First Amendment if extradited,” his wife, Stella Assange, said. "The diplomatic note does nothing to relieve our family’s extreme distress about his future — his grim expectation of spending the rest of his life in isolation in U.S. prison for publishing award-winning journalism.”

Assange, 52, has been indicted on 17 espionage charges and one charge of computer misuse over his website’s publication of a trove of classified U.S. documents almost 15 years ago. American prosecutors allege that Assange encouraged and helped U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to steal diplomatic cables and military files that WikiLeaks published.

Commuters emerging from a Tube stop near the courthouse couldn’t miss a large sign bearing Assange’s photo and the words, “Publishing is not a crime. War crimes are.” Scores of supporters gathered outside the neo-Gothic Royal Courts of Justice chanting “Free Julian Assange” and “Press freedom, Assange freedom.”

Some held a large white banner aimed at President Joe Biden, exhorting: “Let him go Joe.”

Assange's lawyers say he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted, though American authorities have said any sentence would likely be much shorter.

Assange’s family and supporters say his physical and mental health have suffered during more than a decade of legal battles, which includes seven years spent inside the Ecuadorian Embassy in London from 2012 until 2019. He has spent the past five years in a British high-security prison.

Assange’s lawyers argued in February that he was a journalist who exposed U.S. military wrongdoing in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sending him to the U.S., they said, would expose him to a politically motivated prosecution and risk a “flagrant denial of justice.”

The U.S. government says Assange's actions went way beyond those of a journalist gathering information, amounting to an attempt to solicit, steal and indiscriminately publish classified government documents.

If Assange prevails Monday, it would set the stage for an appeal process likely to extend what has already been a long legal saga.

If the court accepts the word of the U.S., it would mark the end of Assange’s legal challenges in the U.K., though it’s unclear what would immediately follow.

His legal team is prepared to ask the European Court of Human Rights to intervene. But his supporters fear Assange could be transferred before the court in Strasbourg, France, could halt his removal.

Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson may also postpone issuing a decision.

If Assange loses in court, he still may have another shot at freedom.

Biden said last month that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the case and let Assange return to his home country.

Officials provided no other details but Stella Assange said it was “a good sign” and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the comment was encouraging.

FILE - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange being taken from court, where he appeared on charges of jumping British bail seven years ago, in London, Wednesday May 1, 2019. Assange faces what could be his final court hearing in England over whether he should be extradited to the United States to face spying charges. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

London court to decide whether WikiLeaks founder Assange is extradited to the US

London court to decide whether WikiLeaks founder Assange is extradited to the US